Operation Santa Claus helps Hong Kong’s Shaw Foundation uplift smaller charities One of Asia’s largest philanthropic organisations, the Shaw Foundation, has pledged to continue supporting small charities in Hong Kong and urged the public to do the same, after making a generous donation to victims of last month’s catastrophic fire in Tai Po. The foundation made a HK$20 million (US$2.6 million) contribution to help victims of the Wang Fuk Court fire, which broke out on November 26 and raged for 43 hours. The deadly fire killed at least 160 people, injured 79 others and...

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Operation Santa Claus helps Hong Kong’s Shaw Foundation uplift smaller charities

Major philanthropic organisation urges Hongkongers to support smaller, lesser-known charities.

US reported to have seized Chinese cargo, Mexico stands by tariffs: SCMP daily highlights Catch up on some of SCMP’s biggest China stories of the day. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. ‘Testing the waters’? US reported to have seized Chinese cargo bound for Iran The reported US seizure of a ship allegedly carrying Chinese-made dual-use components to Iran might signal Washington was “testing the waters” on reviving an old tactic to pressure Beijing’s ties with its adversaries, but such moves risked breaching international law, analysts...

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US ‘seizes’ Chinese cargo, Mexico stands by tariffs: SCMP daily highlights

From US reportedly confiscating Chinese cargo bound for Iran to support for returning overseas students, here’s a round-up from today’s coverage.

Philippines weighs using UN anti-corruption treaty for Zaldy Co’s extradition The Philippine government is weighing whether a United Nations anti-corruption treaty can help track down and extradite a former lawmaker accused of being one of the masterminds behind the billion-peso flood control scandal and believed to be hiding overseas. Presidential press officer and undersecretary Claire Castro said Manila was studying a proposal by Senator Panfilo Lacson to tap the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) to help locate and extradite former congressman Zaldy Co. Co, who...

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Can UN anti-corruption pact bring Zaldy Co back to Philippines?

The former lawmaker, who is facing charges linked to the Philippines’ flood control scandal, is suspected to have fled to Portugal.

Hong Kong schools to get HK$500,000 each under HK$500 million AI education plan Hong Kong education authorities will offer HK$500,000 (US$64,246) to each public primary and secondary school that applies for funding to introduce artificial intelligence (AI) in classrooms over the next three years, with about HK$500 million allocated for the initiative. Schools receiving the funding can subscribe to AI-powered software and hardware, but must implement AI-assisted teaching in at least three subjects while developing six teaching examples or resources with the technology. The...

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Hong Kong schools to get HK$500,000 each under AI education plan

Public primary and secondary schools interested are required to submit their application forms by February 2026.

China seizes 430kg of cocaine aided by US intel, a sign anti-drug agreement may be working Chinese authorities have intercepted 430kg (948lbs) of cocaine aided by tip-offs by the United States, a sign of possible progress on the issue following an agreement on counternarcotics cooperation reached by the leaders of the two countries in October. Chinese authorities had found the drug in an international container at the Yantian port in Shenzhen, southern China’s Guangdong province, on November 26, state broadcaster CCTV said on Tuesday. The case is under further investigation and no...

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China seizes 430kg cocaine aided by US intel, in sign anti-drug pact is working

Chinese authorities uncovered the drug in an international container at the Yantian port in Shenzhen, according to CCTV.

Abandoned baby reveals incest case involving teen siblings in Malaysia The discovery of a Malaysian baby boy left behind a house in Kampung Alor Lintang, Terengganu state’s Kampung Raja on Sunday has revealed a case of incest involving a teenage girl and her younger brother, Sinar Harian reported. Acting Besut police chief Deputy Superintendent Md Sani Md Saleh told the Malay-language daily that investigations found the baby was the result of an illicit relationship involving the 16-year-old girl and was born in secret. “Shortly after birth, the baby was reportedly...

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Abandoned baby reveals incest case involving teen siblings in Malaysia

Police said a 14-year-old boy has been arrested in connection with the incident in Terengganu state.

Malaysians fume as Indonesian minister belittles flood aid: ‘just say thank you’ Malaysians hit back online this week after Indonesia’s home affairs minister appeared to play down the significance of flood relief Malaysia sent to the neighbouring nation’s disaster-hit Aceh province, where catastrophic floods and landslides on Sumatra’s northern tip have killed more than 1,000 people. The backlash followed remarks by Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian in a podcast clip published on Saturday, which later went viral, in which he said that the medical supplies delivered from...

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‘Just say thank you’: Malaysians fume as Indonesian minister belittles flood aid

Tito Karnavian dismissed the US$60,000 aid package as ‘not much’ compared to Jakarta’s own disaster response, touching a raw nerve online.

Ex-NBA player fights cancer in Singapore, porn star mocks Bali arrest: 7 Asia highlights We have selected seven stories from the SCMP’s coverage of Asia over the past week that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. ‘It’s life’: ex-NBA star in Singapore for brain cancer treatment exudes hope Former National Basketball Association (NBA) centre Jason Collins, who has a deadly form of brain cancer, is undergoing an experimental treatment in Singapore, with those involved in the trial...

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Malaysia’s dress code row, South Korea falls out with K-pop: 7 Asia highlights

From ex-NBA player’s cancer treatment to backlash against Malaysia’s ‘moral police’, here are a few highlights from SCMP’s recent Asia re...

China ‘likely celebrating’ as Japan, South Korea clash over islets Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s revival of Tokyo’s claim to islets whose symbolic weight far outweighs their size has rekindled an old dispute that may play well with nationalist supporters at home, but risks derailing hard-won diplomatic progress abroad. Seoul swiftly shot down Takaichi’s assertion last week that the rocky outcrops, known as Takeshima to Japan and Dokdo to South Korea, belong to Tokyo. “Dokdo is clearly our inherent territory,” the presidential office said in a...

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Japan and South Korea clash over islets as old grievances resurface

Analysts warn the squabble is a ‘step backwards’ that offers Beijing a chance to drive a wedge between the two US allies.

Hong Kong shipping baron’s nephew buys US$9.6 million flat in Repulse Bay A nephew of the late Hong Kong shipping tycoon Y.K. Pao has bought a HK$75 million (US$9.6 million) luxury flat in Repulse Bay, continuing a trend among the city’s wealthy buyers who have been snapping up high-end homes in recent months. Crosspark Limited, an entity linked to Raymond Pao Lun-kwok, bought the 2,491 sq ft, four-bedroom flat in Grand Garden in the affluent Southern district on December 8, according to the Land Registry. The previous owner paid HK$80 million in 2018, the records...

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Hong Kong shipping baron’s nephew buys US$9.6 million flat in Repulse Bay

An entity linked to Raymond Pao, a nephew of the late Y.K. Pao, acquired the 2,491 sq ft, four-bedroom flat in Grand Garden on December 8.

China teen girl risks life to save boy from icy lake, tells dad wet clothes are from watering cart A 13-year-old girl in China has been dubbed a “little hero” after risking her life to save a four-year-old boy who fell into a frozen lake. The incident unfolded on December 6, in a park in Tongxin county, Ningxia Hui autonomous region in northwestern China. The boy was playing on the surface of the frozen lake when he suddenly plunged into a hole, the Jimu News reported. As his anxious and terrified mother stood on the bank waiting for rescue crews to arrive, a young girl approached her and...

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China teen girl risks life to save boy from icy lake, tells dad watering cart soaked her

Fearless 13-year-old tells anxious mother of drowning boy, 4, that she is ‘rather light’, ignoring danger to crawl onto thin ice.

Trump urges Xi to show leniency for Jimmy Lai as Britain summons China’s ambassador Britain’s government on Monday summoned China’s ambassador to the UK to protest the conviction of British citizen Jimmy Lai Chee-ying on national security charges in Hong Kong, while US President Donald Trump said he urged leniency for Lai in a call with Chinese President Xi Jinping. “I feel so badly. I spoke to President Xi about it, and I asked to consider his release,” Trump told reporters, without specifying exactly when he spoke with Xi. “He’s an older man, and he’s not well. So I did put...

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Trump appeals to Xi over Jimmy Lai as Britain summons China’s ambassador

US president says he asked Chinese leader to consider freeing Lai, describing the jailed media executive as ‘an older man’ who is ‘not well’.

Trump to sue UK’s BBC over Panorama edit of 2021 Capitol speech ‘by Tuesday’ US President Donald Trump said on Monday he would soon file a lawsuit against Britain’s BBC over its editing of a speech he made in 2021 on the day his supporters stormed the US Capitol. “In a little while, you’ll be seeing I’m suing the BBC for putting words in my mouth. Literally, they put words in my mouth. They had me saying things that I never said coming out,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. He added that the lawsuit against Britain’s public broadcaster could be filed on Monday...

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BBC vows to fight Trump’s US$10 billion defamation suit

The UK broadcaster has apologised but will fight the US president’s defamation claim over a misleading edit of his January 6 speech.

Xpeng steps up ‘go global’ drive with Malaysian EV assembly hub for Southeast Asian market Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker Xpeng plans to establish a production base in Malaysia targeting Southeast Asian customers, in its latest move to expand overseas to improve profitability. The Guangzhou-based company, 5 per cent owned by Volkswagen Group, said on Monday that it would partner with Malaysian firm EP Manufacturing Berhad (EPMB), an investment conglomerate focusing on automotive manufacturing and engineering, to locally assemble its intelligent electric cars tailored to the needs...

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Xpeng steps up ‘go global’ drive with Malaysian assembly hub for Southeast Asia

The Guangzhou-based company said it would partner with Malaysia’s EP Manufacturing to locally assemble intelligent EVs.

Martial law plot was Yoon’s plan all along, South Korean prosecutors say South Korea’s former president Yoon Suk-yeol began plotting to impose martial law barely a year after taking office, aiming to cling to power by provoking a military confrontation with North Korea, special investigators have found. Announcing the results of a 180-day investigation on Monday, special prosecutor Cho Eun-suk said Yoon and his closest aides had devised a scheme to form a military junta, suspend democratic institutions, seize control of the legislature and judiciary and eliminate all...

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Martial law plot was Yoon’s plan all along, South Korean prosecutors say

Announcing the results of a massive 180-day inquiry on Monday, special prosecutors said Yoon Suk-yeol aimed to form a military junta.

Does North Korea’s Kim Yo-jong have a new Chinese smartphone? Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korea’s supreme leader, has been spotted with what appears to be a Chinese-made foldable phone. Images released by state media on Sunday showed Kim holding the phone in her right hand during a trip to a hospital opening alongside her brother, Kim Jong-un. Although the brand name cannot be seen in the picture, the phone closely resembles the Chinese brand Honor’s “Magic” line, advertised as “the world’s thinnest foldable smartphone”. The V3 model of the...

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Kim’s sister spotted with suspected luxury Chinese foldable phone

The device, seen at a hospital opening in North Korea, appears to be an ultra-thin ‘Magic’ foldable from Chinese tech giant Honor.

Japan risks 199,000 deaths in overdue megaquake amid fresh tremor swarm A cluster of tremors off Japan’s northeastern coast has raised alarms among seismologists, as a new government study warns that up to 199,000 people could be killed if a magnitude-9 earthquake strikes. The most recent quake, a magnitude 4.9 offshore tremor recorded on Sunday evening near Miyako in Iwate prefecture, was small and caused no reported damage. Yet authorities are urging residents to remain vigilant and review their evacuation plans after a succession of smaller offshore quakes in...

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Japan tremors raise fears of overdue megaquake killing 199,000

Authorities are urging residents to review evacuation plans as simulations suggest a ‘maximum-class’ winter night quake could trap thousands.

China sanctions Japanese ex-military chief for ‘colluding with Taiwan separatist forces’ Beijing has imposed sanctions on Shigeru Iwasaki, former chief of the Joint Staff of the Japan Self-Defence Forces, saying he had “colluded with separatist forces” in Taiwan, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Monday. It comes after Beijing lodged a protest with Tokyo in March over the appointment of Iwasaki as an honorary adviser to the Executive Yuan, the Taiwanese government’s highest administrative body. The “countermeasures” include freezing Iwasaki’s movable and immovable assets and...

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China sanctions Japanese ex-military chief for ‘colluding with separatists’

Beijing lodged a protest with Tokyo in March after Shigeru Iwasaki was named an honorary adviser to the island’s Executive Yuan.

China’s consumption and investment show weak performance in November China’s economic indicators logged a further slowdown in November, with consumption and investment showing renewed signs of strain, while the property downturn continued to weigh on overall momentum. Retail sales, a key gauge of consumer spending, grew in November by 1.3 per cent, year on year, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday. The figure fell short of the 2.92 per cent forecast from financial data provider Wind and marked a drop from October’s 2.9...

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China’s growth engines sputter as retail and investment hit in November

Retail sales grew just 1.3 per cent, with growth momentum slowing for six straight months, and January-November investment fell 2.6 per cent as the...

Jimmy Lai trial: all eyes on Hong Kong as court set to deliver verdict This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. Get faster notifications on the latest updates by downloading our app. Three Hong Kong judges who presided over former media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying’s high-profile national security trial for more than 1½ years are set to return their verdict on Monday. The 78-year-old founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily has spent most of the past five years in solitary...

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Hong Kong’s Jimmy Lai found guilty on all charges in national security trial

City leader John Lee welcomes conviction, calls it an upholding of justice and a safeguard for Hong Kong’s core values.